MidEast

Reporter Harassed, Demoted for Breaking Story of Jews Being Excluded From LGBT March

The award-winning journalist who first revealed that three Jewish women were banned from the Dyke March in Chicago for carrying LGBT flags adorned with the Star of David last month, confirmed on Monday that she was removed from her position as reporter because of the event.

Gretchen Rachel Hammond wrote in a tweet directed at the Dyke March organizers, “You attacked, humiliated and robbed me of a job. No tears. I forgive you. Just hope you learn how destructive and pointless hatred is.”

You attacked, humiliated and robbed me of a job. No tears. I forgive you. Just hope you learn how destructive and pointless hatred is.

When approached by the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) the same day, Hammond confirmed that she wrote the tweet. But the journalist said she could not elaborate further on events that followed the Dyke March controversy because of an agreement with her employer, the Windy City Times.

Hammond, who is Jewish, told JTA that she was subjected to dozens of abusive and threatening phone calls as a result of her reporting. One caller called her a “kike,” while others told her she should lose her job or accused her of having “betrayed” the LGBT community. “It was vicious. It wasn’t even a request for dialogue,” Hammond said.

In her initial report of the event, Gretchen Rachel Hammond quoted an organizer of the Dyke March as saying that the Jewish women were banned because their flags were “triggering,” “made people feel unsafe,” and that the march was “anti-Zionist” and “pro-Palestinian.”

On June 28, an organizer of the march told Hammond in an interview that she and her employer “failed in its journalistic mission.” The Windy City Times—whose masthead featured Hammond as a senior writer until two weeks ago—now employs her as a “senior account executive.”

Jewish organizations, as well as the three women ejected from the march, have accused the Dyke March organizers of anti-semitism. The Dyke March came under fire last week after using an anti-Semitic slur, tweeting that “Zio tears replenish my electrolytes.” White supremacists, including former KKK Grand Wizard and Holocaust denier David Duke, have used the term “Zio” to target Jews.